episode_0093

000

During the day, Sasha, returning alone to the mansion where no one was, felt a somewhat awkward feeling akin to guilt for some reason.

It wasn’t that Kuon or Layla were the type of people who would sigh or nag after seeing her like this.

It was clearly her fault for not bringing the items she needed for class.

Feeling a slight sense of relief that both of them, excellent students and people Sasha took as role models, weren’t at the mansion.

She returned to her room to look for her things when.

[Rustle! Clang!]

A unique dagger that emitted light and sound every time it was swung came out of her box.

The box containing the dagger’s case was where she usually kept equipment she didn’t often use or precious items.

It was a uniquely tasteful item with a function that played a voice when a button on the bottom of the handle was pressed.

But why, Sasha felt a strangely familiar sensation when she held and swung this dagger.

As if she had swung it countless times before.

Yes, surely.

It was as if there was a time when she held this dagger and spent time with someone precious-

“Ah, ugh…!?”

A sudden headache came over her. She dropped the dagger, but it only made a heavy `thud…` sound, like a piece of wood, without sticking into the ground like a bladed weapon would.

Sasha fought her own kin and what she experienced to defeat him.

And to put what she learned through that experience into practice, she-

Feeling the sensation of her eyes gradually heating up – no, the manifestation of the hunter’s mark, Sasha suffered.

The hunter’s mark.

It was both a blessing and a curse received from the god of hunting by her tribe.

In terms of curse rating, it was a powerful poison belonging to the highest class of all curses, including the material and non-material realms.

And that poison, given the right trigger, would strongly activate and try to devour the `petty demon’s curse compared to the real god` within her.

The magic of the mark, heating up her entire body, rummaged through her mind.

No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say that it was trying to restore her rummaged mind to its original state.

It was such a powerful shock and pain that she unknowingly shed tears and writhed on the floor.

Her breathing involuntarily increased, and the mark tried to exert more power to restore the host.

Was it a minute, or ten minutes?

When the agony, like an eternity to Sasha, was over, the hunter’s mark was even more deeply embedded in her eyes.

Her ears were slightly longer, and her tail had become more magnificent.

But more than that-. Sasha thought, picking up the precious item she had dropped and returning it to her waist.

Regaining her rough breathing, she wiped the teardrops from her eyes with the back of her hand.

She had no time to be crying.

Because the one who would truly be sad would be `him`, not her.

“Mr. Cleon…!”

The burning mark’s vision guided her to where he was.

Class was no longer important; she had to get to Cleon as soon as possible.

Having changed from her student uniform into the blue armor she wore as an adventurer.

She ran out of the mansion.

001

“A giant tomb in the academy’s basement, you say.”

Iona and Cleon were sitting across from each other under a parasol at a street stall table.

Cleon finished his conversation with the Council of Elders, left the Monad’s coffin, and joined her, who was waiting outside.

They stopped by their usual shop to talk.

“And a cursed room….”

Iona listened to Cleon’s story with great interest, nodding her head.

He thought she would, as she was a scholar like Layla, but seeing her take notes on everything Cleon said in her notebook, he felt again that she was an intelligence agent.

“The cursed room seems to have originally been sealed off. After losing three colleagues, they had to make sure no one entered, even by mistake.”

“A curse that befalls intruders in an ancient ruin where relics are stored…. It’s a cliché development, isn’t it?”

Iona nodded and told several stories about the curses of ancient ruins that she knew.

Ancient ruins themselves were like giant traps, and opening the door would immediately unleash a curse outwards.

Or, taking magical tools from inside the ruins would slowly bring misfortune, leading to destruction without one realizing it.

“So, to summarize, the ancients were bad-tempered?”

“Ahaha… It must be a defense system to protect the tomb. In fact, from an academic point of view, the excavation of ruins is meaningful, but from the perspective of the owners of those ruins, it’s the same as tomb raiding.”

Especially tombs, Iona added.

“The Black Conflict…. I don’t know how Rail found that room and is withstanding the curse, but we need to prepare for the curse if we’re going to go there too.”

Iona rested her chin on her hand in response to Cleon’s words.

“Shall we prepare something like an anti-magic charm?”

“…That’s right, let’s prepare all the means we can. If so, I-”

“Oh? Iona?”

A voice interrupted Cleon’s words, cutting in from the side.

Cleon and Iona couldn’t help but stiffen at the voice.

Iona slowly turned her head in the direction the voice came from and met the eyes of Layla Flamewatch, the top student in the academy’s Department of Magic.

“L, Layla.”

Layla looked at Iona, who answered with a slight stutter, with a puzzled expression but soon smiled.

“It’s been a while; you were at the academy. Is it for work?”

“Ah, yes, it is.”

Iona answered so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion, but her flustered appearance was obvious.

Originally, she had been wandering around the academy with a little peace of mind, as this time was when students were still in class.

Meeting her was one of the least likely scenarios she could have imagined.

“And…. who’s this?”

Layla’s gaze turned to the tall, black-haired, black-eyed woman sitting in front of Iona, drinking her beverage to quench her thirst.

If Layla suspected Cleon even a little and activated her magic vision, she would likely notice the polymorph on his body.

Cleon put down his cup while feigning composure and answered.

“Leona. I’m accompanying her for work, she’s an adventurer.”

As he introduced himself lightly, Layla nodded, replying with a `hmm`. Fortunately, she didn’t seem very interested in him.

He felt a little lonely about that in its own way.

“M, more than that, Layla. Why are you here? Isn’t it still class time?”

Hearing Iona’s words, Layla answered as if she had suddenly come to her senses.

“That’s right! Iona, have you seen Sasha?”

“Miss Sasha, you mean? No. She should be in class as well….”

Layla shook her head and answered with a slightly dark face.

“Well, it seems she went back to the mansion to get something she forgot during class and hasn’t returned to class. Her friends in the same department came to me earlier, worried.”

Cleon’s eyes widened at those words, and he almost stood up from his seat without realizing it.

“I sent Innis to the mansion, but she doesn’t seem to be there either. So, I’m looking for her myself.”

“She’s around that age…. She might be enjoying a little escapade…?”

Layla continued, answering Iona’s reply with `I wish that were the case….`

“Lately, things have been complicated in many ways because of the escaped executioners, so I can’t help but be on edge…. I can’t even focus on my research because of those guys.”

“T, that’s worrying….”

In any case, Iona judged that it would be dangerous to talk to Layla here for too long and stood up first.

“Then we’ll look for Miss Sasha too.”

“Really? I’d be grateful if you did, but that child, for some reason, I can’t feel any magical reaction from her at all. It’s like she’s hiding with all her might.”

Layla raised her hand to her forehead as if she had a bit of a headache, but Cleon reacted to those words.

“…Magical reaction?”

The hunter’s mark was always activated on her, so she was bound to leave a magical reaction whether she wanted to or not.

If he couldn’t feel a magical reaction from her, it meant she had deactivated the mark, or-

`The mark had progressed a little further in its assimilation and was functioning like a bodily function.`

Cleon bit his lower lip slightly and stood up from his seat as well.

“Of course, Leona will help too.”

Iona told Layla, looking at Cleon, and Layla bowed to the two of them as if she was grateful.

“Thank you so much! If you find Sasha, come to the mansion too. I’ll treat you to dinner to repay you.”

Layla wasn’t completely relieved yet, but she breathed a sigh of relief at the two people’s help, adding things like `Kuon’s cooking skills are better than the culinary department’s`.

Iona and Cleon walked away from Layla slowly.

When they were far enough away that she couldn’t hear them, Iona opened her mouth first.

“Do you have any idea where Miss Sasha went?”

“No… But, as Layla said, this isn’t a normal situation. It’s not like Sasha to skip class and disappear….”

Cleon said, thinking about Sasha’s principles of behavior.

She was a little timid, but that was due to the influence of the tribe that had been driving and binding her for a long time.

Originally, she was more decisive than he thought and often surprised people with her bold actions.

And when she took such bold actions, it was more often when it was for others than for herself.

Basically, when moving for others.

“I’m connected to her through the mark of domination, so I can grasp her location to some extent. This way.”

Cleon said, standing in front of Iona, and tried to leave the city and head to the place where Sasha’s reaction was felt.

The location indicated by the mark wasn’t too far from here either.

However-

A chilling sensation was felt from behind the two of them.

[Demihuman factor detected. Acknowledging target as marked swordsman. Commencing suppression according to protocol.]

At the same time as the heavy mechanical sound of steel and the echoing voice, Cleon instinctively turned around and faced the automata.

“Automata!? These guys, reacting to the factor I have…!”

“Cleon!”

To protect himself from the automata that was attacking him without question, Cleon reached out and turned Iona into the form of a holy sword.

He blocked the blade attached to the automata’s arm and clicked his tongue.

The battle that broke out in the city in an instant drew curious gazes from the surrounding passersby and students, and some screamed at the swung swords.

[Deploying anti-magic field to suppress swordsman-]

“Don’t do anything unnecessary…!”

Just before the guy’s voice finished, Cleon swung Iona and slashed diagonally down the center where the guy’s core was located.

A powerful flash, so fast it seemed like a white streak, passed by.

The steel body couldn’t resist and collapsed, falling on the spot.

[You did it!]

“No, automata are operated in pairs of two, so there must be one more nearby-”

The moment Cleon tried to quickly find the next machine.

A sensation that weighed down the entire air momentarily swept over his body.

The polymorph on his body was released, revealing his original form.

“Damn it…!”

Cleon’s gaze moved not to the street but to the top of the surrounding buildings.

There, an automata that seemed to be paired with the one he had just defeated stood, spreading a wide aura of magic that protected its entire body, creating an anti-magic field that neutralized the magic inside.

[Cleon! Throw it!]

“Ah…!”

As Iona suggested, Cleon grabbed her and threw her with all his might towards the automata.

A long sword, not a dagger, would normally be difficult to throw and hit an enemy with in this way.

But Iona was a holy sword. It was possible to adjust her trajectory to some extent to hit the opponent.

Iona flew at a speed like a beam of light, pierced through the automata as it was, and then returned to human form on the spot and landed on the building.

The anti-magic field was dispelled, and she could use magic as well, so she safely climbed down the building by reinforcing her body.

But Cleon remembered for a moment.

Who they had been with until now.

Immediately after, a fireball flew towards Cleon.

The highly lethal attack, with intense heat and the property of exploding upon collision with something.

It was `her` prized magic that he had seen many times.

He quickly rolled to avoid the fireball and looked up to face forward.

There, Layla Flamewatch stood, her hair burning red, looking at him with an expression of disbelief.

“Can you explain what’s going on? Iona.”

And that gaze was directed not only at Cleon but also at Iona.

“Ugh, please listen, Layla! He’s-!”

“Why are you with the leader of the escaped executioners… Explain it to me in a way I can understand!!”

Along with a hysterical shout, something like chains appeared from behind Layla.

An illusionary chain that removed the fire attribute from the `Blaze Chain` that Cleon had used before. In other words, a suppression magic.

With a rustling sound, the chains flew towards Cleon like living vipers.

Iona quickly jumped towards Cleon and tried to take the form of a sword again to protect Cleon.

As far as distance was concerned, Layla’s magic was the first to arrive.

Cleon bit his lip and focused his senses to dodge the chains at the right time.

At that moment.

“Azure Meteor Shower!”

Another voice cut in, and rain-like arrows poured down from the sky, knocking down all the chains that were covering Cleon.

The arrows were not physical objects, but each one was made of magic.

Cleon knew who used this form of arrow.

The hunter from the same tribe as her, who had opposed them before and was defeated by Sasha.

It was the magic arrow used by Mikasia Lupenwolf.

But the voice just now.

“Mr. Cleon!”

When Cleon turned around at the voice calling him, Sasha was there, holding a bow, looking at Cleon, and calling Cleon’s name.

“”Sasha!?””

Cleon and Layla called her name at the same time.

Both were surprised, but Layla felt shock, and Cleon felt joy.

“Sasha! What are you doing! That guy is from the executioners…!”

“No! Mr. Cleon is not our enemy! Mr. Cleon is the most precious person to our Miss Kuon, Miss Layla, and me!”

Layla visibly panicked at Sasha’s words and took a slight step back without realizing it.

It was as if her soul and body were reacting to Sasha’s words rather than her mind.

Not missing the opportunity, Sasha once again imbued a magic arrow and fired it at Layla.

Cleon’s eyes widened at the action, but the magic arrow that flew out split into four at the same time and was embedded in the ground in front, behind, to the left, and to the right of where Layla was standing.

“… A barrage to bind the feet.”

The next moment, the magic arrows connected with each other, turning into a barrier that bound Layla’s feet as they were.

“Ugh… Sasha, you…”

Looking at Layla, who had an expression on the verge of crying, Sasha also answered with a sad face.

“I’m sorry. Miss Layla. Surely, Miss Layla will find out too.”

Cleon also stared at Layla for a moment, then jumped up with Iona to the top of the building where Sasha was and fled with her.

A moment later, when the barrier binding Layla disappeared as the caster was gone.

She collapsed to the ground, staring blankly in the direction Sasha had disappeared.

“Sasha… Why…”